Baldrige Award Research Articles

Characteristics, benefits and shortcomings of four major quality awards

In an increasingly global and competitive environment, an organization’s long‐term survival may depend on improved quality, productivity and customer service. The pressing need to improve competitiveness has resulted in a number of transnational and national quality awards. In broad terms, these awards stress the importance of management process, customer satisfaction, people and total quality to the attainment of superior competitive position. Describes, compares and highlights the key strengths and weaknesses of the following four major national and transnational quality awards: the Deming Application Prize; the European Quality Award (EQA); the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award (Baldrige Award); and the Australian Quality Award (AQA). Discusses the key requirements of each award and their underlying assumptions and impacts. The awards reviewed represent one of the principal devices used to encourage adoption of self‐assessment, total quality concepts, and external focus in four different continents. To spread good total quality practice the awards publicly recognize the achievements of the organizations which have successfully adopted the concepts of total quality management. The winners serve as useful role models for other organizations intent on adopting total quality management practices. The quality awards reviewed are arguably the premier award in their respective continents.

Identification of the Critical Factors of TQM*

Current concepts in the field of Total Quality Management (TQM) are largely based upon case studies, anecdotal evidence and the prescriptions of leading “gurus.” Consequently, there is little consensus on which factors are critical to the success of the approach. Few attempts have been made to scientifically synthesise frameworks for measuring quality management practices, and a methodology for examining the issue has yet to be established. This has meant that current TQM models, such as the Malcolm Baldrige Award, have not been constructed or validated by empirical means. This paper presents a research methodology that can be used to improve self‐assessment frameworks, such as the Baldrige Award, to better inform organisations in the development of Total Quality Systems.The research extracts a series of items from the Baldrige model and established literature. These items formed the basis of a questionnaire sent to over 200 managers. Data was examined using several well‐established analytical techniques that identified 10 critical factors of TQM. These factors were shown to be reliable and valid, and offer new insights into our understanding of TQM.

Use of ISO 9000 and Baldrige Award Criteria in Supplier Quality Evaluation

Purchasing and materials managers are increasingly concerned with ISO 9000 registration, both as a prerequisite for participation in global markets and in supplier selection. The ISO 9000 guidelines link certification requirements to quality‐related corporate issues, and can be used as a screening tool for companies when assessing a supplier's process conformance. However, many important areas of quality management are not addressed by ISO 9000. The Malcolm Baldrige Award criteria, on the other hand, provide a comprehensive framework within which to conduct an evaluation of suppliers’ quality systems.The similarities and differences between the two frameworks are compared in a map that is validated using survey data from 314 North American organizations. The results suggest that ISO 9000 registration criteria fail to measure key areas of quality management, including strategic planning, employee involvement, quality results, competitive benchmarking, and customer satisfaction. Based on these results, the implications for the design of supplier quality measurement and evaluation systems are discussed.

More world‐class winners ‐ profiles of the 1995 Baldrige winners

Looks at two of the 1995 Baldrige Award Winners. Details their company profiles and briefly discusses the future of the Baldrige Awards.

Quality Experts Sought for 1996 Baldrige Award Board of Examiners

Quality Experts Sought for 1996 Baldrige Award Board of Examiners

Managing Information about Processes

This study addresses the issue of how leading firms manage information about their business processes. The researchers interviewed twenty firms, many of which were Baldrige quality award winners, and conducted a detailed case study of one firm particularly advanced in process management. The paper suggests that a key aspect of success in process improvement is effective management of information about process performance, even independent of information technology. The concept of double-loop learning is applied to process information. A process model of how to manage process information is advanced, with many examples from interviews of leading practices. Challenges in moving toward increased use of process information are also described.

Translation of the baldrige award criteria to a context more accessible to small companies

AbstractExperience has shown that many small companies find it too costly or impractical to use the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award as a tool to improve their quality culture. A statelevel award has found a way to make the criteria more accessible to small companies without diluting the essence of the criteria. The Connecticut Quality Improvement Award has translated the specifics of the Baldrige criteria to a set of 37 questions to which applicants, or those wishing to use the criteria for self‐assessment, can respond with considerably reduced effort.

The Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 in the quality management processes

As global competitiveness has escalated the race for ever-improving quality, Baldrige and ISO 9000 have become pivotal forces in evolving quality improvement toward universal criteria defining what quality is and how it is achieved. This article clarifies the objectives of Baldrige and ISO 9000 and how they improve quality, compares their relative advantages, and shows how they can complement each other. >

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD AND ISO 9000 REGISTRATION

Market globalization, higher requirements for improved quality, and tough, faster‐pace, price‐sensitive competition have led to two parallel and visible quality thrust: the Baldrige Award in the U.S. and, internationally, the ISO 9000 standards. The relationship between the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration is widely confused. Two common misper‐ceptions stand out: (1) that they both cover the same requirements and (2) that they both address improvement, relying on high quality results, and thus, are both forms of recognition. Many have concluded that the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 are equivalent and that companies should choose one or the other. These conclusions are incorrect. The Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration differ fundamentally in focus, purpose, and content. The focus of the Baldrige Award is on enhanced competitiveness. The Award Criteria reflect two key competitiveness thrusts: (1) delivery of ever‐improving value to customers and (2) improvement of overall operational performance. The Award's central purpose is educational‐to encourage sharing knowledge and experience of competitiveness and to drive this learning, creating an evolving fund of knowledge. By contrast, the focus of ISO 9000 registration is on conformity to practices specified in the registrant's own quality systems. Its central purpose is to enhance and facilitate trade. The Baldrige Award addresses competitiveness factors either not addressed in ISO 9000 registration or addressed differently. These factors include a customer and market focus, results orientation, continuous improvement, competitive comparisons, a tie to business strategy, cycle time and responsiveness, integration via analysis, public responsibility, human resource development, and information sharing. Overall, ISO 9000 registration covers less than 10% of the scope of the Baldrige Award Criteria and does not fully address any of the 28 Criteria items. As a result, the national drive to improve competitiveness could be diminished. Companies required to or electing to seek ISO 9000 registration are encouraged to integrate their conformity efforts with the Baldrige Award competitiveness improvement framework.

A Survey-Based Benchmarking Approach for Health Care Using the Baldrige Quality Criteria

Since 1988, manufacturing and service industries have been using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award to assess their management processes (for example, leadership, information, and analysis) against critical performance criteria. Recognizing that the typical Baldrige assessment is time intensive and dependent on intensive training, The Pacer Group, a consulting firm in Dayton, Ohio, developed a self-assessment tool based on the Baldrige criteria which provides a snapshot assessment of an organization's management practices. The survey was administered at 25 hospitals within a health care system. Hospitals were able to compare their scores with other hospitals in the system, as well as the scores of a Baldrige award winner. Results were also analyzed on a systemwide basis to identify strengths and weaknesses across the system. For all 25 hospitals, the following areas were identified as strengths: management of process quality, leadership, and customer focus and satisfaction. Weaknesses included lack of employee involvement in the quality planning process, poor design of quality systems, and lack of cross-departmental cooperation. One of the surveyed hospitals launched improvement initiatives in knowledge of improvement tools and methods and in a patient satisfaction focus. A team was formed to improve the human resource management system. Also, a new unit was designed using patient-centered care principles. A team re-evaluated every operation that affected patients on the unit. A survey modeled after the Baldrige Award criteria can be useful in benchmarking an organization's quality improvement practices.

A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN THE DALLAS COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT AND TEXAS INSTRUMENTS: USING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT TO REINVENT WORKFORCE PREPARATION

As public and private sector organizations work to remain viable, many seek to reinvent themselves to remain competitive in constantly changing markets. In such an environment, community colleges are required to closely examine their own programs serving business and industry to ensure that they remain appropriate. This article describes the elements of a new partnership between the Dallas County Community College District and Texas Instruments that draws on the concepts and processes of total quality management (TQM). It traces the evolution of the relationship between the college and the corporation from a more traditional interaction, relying on informal contact through an advisory committee structure, to a true collaboration between the two organizations that requires regular planning development sessions. The analysis concludes with a consideration of how this more formal partnership conforms to each of the seven areas the Baldrige Award identifies as essential in the implementation of TQM and with a description of the important lessons that can be learned by a community college that incorporates these TQM elements into its dealings with business. Such a partnership has the net effect of significantly improving—and in key ways reinventing—cooperative efforts to prepare the workforce.

Quality Turnaround at IBM UK’s Information Network

States that for the first time a marketing unit has won the Market Driven Quality (MDQ) Bronze Award from within IBM’s 50 business units. The MDQ which is based on the Baldrige Award has been won by IBM UK’s Information Network (IN), which is also the smallest unit in the corporation to have achieved this award. States that IN provides a variety of services for its customers on a worldwide basis. Explains that its strong performance in increasing customer satisfaction is mirrored in its business results. Shows how quality is implemented and concludes that it is confident of maintaining these standards.

State quality initiatives: Mini‐baldrige to baldrige plus

AbstractThe Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has successfully raised the quality consciousness of U.S. business leaders. However, there is still ample room to increase quality improvement participation among the groups targeted by the Baldrige Award, as well as to stimulate groups that do‐not fit within the private manufacturing and sendee sectors. State quality award programs are proving successful in further increasing the level of quality awareness. This article compares and contrasts five of these programs and highlights how they have improved on the Baldrige model.

Total Quality Management and employee involvement: Are they compatible?

Executive Overview Total Quality Management (TQM) programs are an important and prominent approach to management. With the creation of the Baldrige award and the competitiveness challenges which many corporations face, they have become extremely popular in (he United States during the last decade. Despite the recent Hurry of studies questioning their effectiveness, most large corporations have a program that incorporates some of the practices and principles of total quality management.1 One of the most important principles of TQM concerns employee involvement or, as it is often called, empowerment. It is common for a TQM program to state that employee involvement is very important to its success. There is a long history of research and writing on employee involvement and how it can affect organizational performance.2 It, too, has become increasingly popular. One possibility, as suggested by TQM programs, is that employee involvement is best thought of as an activity which supports these programs. Another possibility is that TQM practices are best used in support of employee involvement programs. Is the difference between TQM as a part of involvement and involvement as a part of TQM more than just a difference in phrasing? Does the choice between these two alternatives have important implications for the way an organization is actually managed and structured? The answers to these two questions contain important clues about when and why TQM programs tail and how they and employee involvement programs can be made effective. To answer them we need to look briefly at the history of both TQM and employee involvement programs.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award concept

The United States has a major weapon in the battle to improve competitiveness: The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. An increasingly asked question in industrial and health care sectors is whether there should be a Baldrige Award in health care. In the business community, the Baldrige Award has been a catalyst for cooperative development of quality criteria, assessment mechanisms, and continuous learning, greatly accelerating the pace of information sharing.

The Baldrige Award Framework for Teaching Total Quality Management

Abstract The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award established in 1987 has undergone many revisions and has evolved into what may safely be called the American model of total quality management. Today, there is a common language, a set of core concepts, and an accepted model of one of the most important management innovations of this century. The Baldrige Award guidelines can effectively be used for teaching TQM concepts in both undergraduate and graduate level courses as well as in company-wide management training programs. This article examines the Baldrige model and how it can be used to teach TQM effectively.

Applying Total Quality Management to Design and Construction

In May of 1992, in Dallas, Tex., the Construction Engineering Program at Iowa State University held its third “Total Quality Management (TQM) in Building Design and Construction Workshops.” As was true for previous workshops, this workshop brought together knowledgeable executives from the United States and Canada to share how they have applied the concepts of TQM to their businesses and to share their TQM experiences. The workshop included breakout sessions, summary sessions, and case‐study presentations. The keynote address was given by the president of the Defense Systems & Electronics Group of Texas Instruments (TI), Inc., a 1992 Baldrige Award winner. Four topics were selected for discussion in the breakout sessions: (1) Recommendations for beginning the quality journey; (2) quality implementation in small and large companies; (3) recommendations for improving job‐site quality; and (4) recommendations for the development and use of quality‐improvement teams. During this workshop, participants developed lists of observations and recommendations for each of the four topic areas. The recommendations amount to an action list for companies interested in implementing TQM.

When the going gets rough: A Baldrige Award winner on the line

Executive Overview In 1990, the Wallace Company became the first small service company ever to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; in 1992, just two short years later, it filed for Chapter 11 and was acquired by Wilson Industries. This success, then failure, of a company dedicated to total quality management (TQM) has raised many eyebrows and caused numerous critics of the Baldrige Award to question both its veracity and its value. Interviews conducted with the former Wallace Company CEO, John Wallace, and Wallace Wilson, CEO of Wilson Industries, suggest that the company's overzealous pursuit of TQM and the Baldrige Award may have contributed to the hard times that followed.

How Ritz-Carlton Applies “TQM”

In the fall of 1992, Ritz-Carlton became the first hotel company to win the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Ritz-Carlton implemented total quality management (TQM) as a means of winning the award and improving its service. Patrick Mene, corporate director of quality, explains issues concerning application of TQM to the hotel industry and applying for the Baldrige award. Measurement was a difficult hurdle, because the industry does not have service-quality benchmarks. Team building was also a time-consuming effort. Ritz-Carlton is now requiring its vendors also to apply TOM or a similar process.

How Quality Happens: Quality Management Program Results Analyzed within a Baldrige Award Framework

ABSTRACTThis research project sought to determine 1) whether the extent of implementing total quality management (TQM) principles in individual organizations could be measured easily by sampling the perceptions of professional workers who were familiar with TQM concepts and (2) if relationships existed between specific TQM implementation patterns and particular outcomes. Members of a Memphis, Tennessee, quality users group were surveyed using a questionnaire that incorporated selected elements of the 1991 Baldrige Award criteria.Scores calculated from the survey responses were expressed in values consistent with the national award-scoring process and compared with data describing 1990 award applicants. The survey respondents appear to overrate their organizations, and for-profit (FP) respondents rated their organizations significantly higher in several important TQM areas than did the not-for-profit (NFP) responders. Using raw data, TQM implementation patterns and results were examined within and between ...